http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=231137JERUSALEM – The political chief of Hamas believes the new "pro-Israel" Congress will put the kibosh on President Obama's attempts to create a Palestinian state.
Dr. Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to Hamas in Gaza, hailed Obama as a "man of good intention" while wishing the U.S. president "all the best," but he stated he believes Obama's Mideast diplomacy will ultimately fail.
Yousef was speaking in a radio interview with WND's senior reporter Aaron Klein, who hosts an investigative show on New York's WABC Radio.
"We know that Mr. Obama is a man of good intention," began Yousef. "He tried to strike a deal between Palestinians and Israel. But it sounds like he's not capable to do something like this, and now when you have the majority of [Congress] pro-Israeli, I doubt that he will succeed."
Yousef continued, "But we wish him all the best, hoping that he will be able to convince the Israelis to strike a deal with the Palestinians. We will keep our fingers crossed, and we hope that he will succeed in that, but I doubt it."
Yousef was responding to reports the Obama administration had proposed the Palestinian Authority assume ownership of the strategic Jordan Valley and then lease the territory to Israel.
Asked by Klein whether Hamas would recognize any deal forged between Israel and the PA, Yousef replied, "It depends, actually."
He added, "We of course will look to the deal and will see if this is benefiting the Palestinian people or [is] another trap that the Israelis try to drag the Palestinians in."
Obama's Israel squeeze: Worse than you know
WND exposed the U.S. proposal for a deal with the PA did not include an Israeli lease for part of the strategic Jordan Valley as widely reported, according to a senior PA official speaking to WND.
The PA official said the proposed deal from the Obama administration instead gave most of that territory entirely to Palestinian control.
A report from Israel's Army Radio US had claimed the Obama administration proposed that Israel relinquish the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and that the Jewish state would lease back parts of the valley from the Palestinians for a up to seven years.
According to that report, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to the idea, but asked for the arrangement for the lease to be longer than seven years.
The PA official, meanwhile, told WND the Obama administration instead has adopted the Palestinian position that the Jordan Valley should become part of a future Palestinian state entirely.
The official said the U.S. had proposed that international troops, along with Jordanian and Palestinian forces, would patrol the area. The official said discussions would be held with Israel for special security arrangements in the Jordan Valley to be determined.
The PA official said no part of the Obama proposal allowed for Israel to lease the Jordan Valley.
He said it was Netanyahu's office that presented a counter-offer of leasing the Jordan Valley from the PA.
The PA official and other Palestinian diplomatic sources contacted by WND said the PA has no intention of leasing the Jordan Valley to Israel if it gains the territory in a deal.
The Jordan Valley encompasses a massive swath of territory. Israeli security analysts and commentators long have argued the country is indefensible without the valley.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated multiple times the Jordan Valley is so vital to Israel's security that Israel must control it in the future.
Netanyahu himself said at a Knesset faction meeting last February that Israel could never agree to withdraw from the Jordan Valley under any peace agreement signed with the Palestinians. Netanyahu told the Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Jordan Valley's strategic importance along the eastern border of the West Bank made it impossible for Israel to withdraw.
The Jordan Valley runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It continues another 96 miles south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba along the Jordanian border. The Jordan Valley forms the border between Israel and Jordan in the north, and the eastern strip of the strategic West Bank in the south.
Topic: Hamas laments new 'pro-Israel' Congress (Read 492 times)